PARIS — For the third year running, the office doors of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Avenue Montaigne were thrown open for the presentation of the shortlisted candidates for the LVMH prize for emerging designers, those younger than 40 with at least two collections under their belts.

The designers with the 23 shortlisted labels come from around the world (the expected fashion capitals of New York, London and Paris, but also Copenhagen; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Tehran, among others) and have a chance to win 300,000 euros ($326,000) and a year of mentorship from the well-oiled LVMH machine.

The added bonus, even for those who do not make the culling to eight finalists and then to the winner, is the audience with fashion’s major players that the selection affords: the LVMH group’s creative directors who will make the final choice, including Karl Lagerfeld, whose arrival occasioned the most extended deployment of flashes, but also the editors, retailers and megamodels on the selection committee that winnowed the initial 1,000 applications.

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From left, Delphine Arnault, executive vice president of Louis Vuitton; Karl Lagerfeld; and the model Karlie Kloss.CreditDmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

Karlie Kloss, the towering model, was named to the committee this year. Her arrival, like Mr. Lagerfeld’s, set cameras to firing and, no doubt, designers to stammering. On the contrary, she said with practiced diplomacy, “I’m really honored to meet them.”

The occasion was not lost on those present.

“I’m from Longview, Tex.,” deadpanned Brandon Maxwell, 31, a New York-based designer who introduced his collection last year. (He also works with Lady Gaga as a stylist, and designed the jumpsuit she wore to the Academy Awards this year.) “That’s all I have to say about that. I cried for two days when they called.”

Assigned to booths arranged 4-H style, the designers welcomed guests, showed samples of their collections and spun their stories — one part as valuable as the other.

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Karl Lagerfeld talking with Christelle Kocher, a French designer whose fashion label, Koché, is on the prize shortlist.CreditDmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

“We’re always looking for someone who has a unique style and also has charisma — they need to speak in public,” said Delphine Arnault, the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton, the daughter of the LVMH chairman and chief executive Bernard Arnault and the public face of the prize. “In America, they’re much more prepared for that than in France.”

Yarn-spinning, figurative as well as literal, is part of the deal.

“I prefer things to speak for me,” said Grace Wales Bonner, 25, the thoughtful and retiring London-based designer, “but I understand now it’s not that easy.”

Though Ms. Kloss, who visited her booth and expressed interest in a rhinestone-studded track suit, would be an equally effective megaphone for it.

Tuomas Merikoski, 36, now based in Paris but originally from Tampere, Finland, (“It’s the Manchester of Finland,” he explained) proclaimed that his goal with his line, Aalto, was to be an ambassador for his native country’s style. He, too, was still learning the ropes of salesmanship.

“I’m really Finnish, so I’m making a big effort,” he said. “You can go to the supermarket there and buy something without saying a word.”

In many cases, the clothes did speak, loudly. Besides Mr. Maxwell’s, Ms. Wales Bonner’s and Mr. Merikoski’s, there were winning pieces from Alyx, by the New York-based designer Matthew Williams, 30; and from Facetasm, by Hiromichi Ochiai, 38, of Tokyo.

The finest union of collection-and-story belonged to Vejas Kruszewski, the Toronto-based designer of Vejas, who at 19 is the youngest designer shortlisted for the prize this year. Mr. Kruszewski, formally untrained, learned by poring over Japanese sewing magazines to tease basic sportswear pieces like sweatshirts and jeans into loopy, alchemized versions of themselves. He still makes most of his samples, so he was especially pleased by the close inspection they got from the Arnault family as its members made the rounds.

“The way they touched things,” he said, wide-eyed, “was the way you would if you spent a lot of time touching nice things.”

Just then, Mr. Lagerfeld, 80 or so (he does not specify), stepped into the booth, trailed by video cameras. He fixed Mr. Kruszewski with a look. “I started at your age,” said Mr. Lagerfeld, who last year celebrated 50 years at the helm of the LVMH-owned Fendi label.

Look what a just a few short decades can do.

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A model wears a creation by the Chinese designer Min Liu.CreditDmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

On March 11, the eight finalists will be announced, and on June 16, a winner (or winners; in the past, secondary prizes have been awarded to one or two runners-up, as well as a graduate prize for a current student). Until then, Jonathan Anderson, 31, the creative director of Loewe and one of the 11 jurors, offered a piece of free advice to all and sundry.

“Never compromise,” he said as he headed out the door, on his way back to work. “That’s all the advice I’ve got to give. I’m too young to have any more.”